


All These Years

by jeongbaeyah



Category: TWICE (Band)
Genre: Angst, Exes, F/F, Some Humor, Unresolved Emotional Tension, a conversation ensues, it's jeongyeon's bday, nayeon decides to call, post disbandment
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-02
Updated: 2020-11-02
Packaged: 2021-03-09 02:48:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27343828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jeongbaeyah/pseuds/jeongbaeyah
Summary: Jeongyeon mustered a small smile. “I like to think that somewhere out there, on a planet exactly like ours, two people exactly like you and me made totally different choices and that, somewhere, we’re still together. And that’s enough for me.”orYears after they've broken up, Nayeon calls Jeongyeon to wish her a happy birthday.
Relationships: Im Nayeon/Yoo Jeongyeon
Comments: 9
Kudos: 71





	All These Years

**Author's Note:**

> Slightly late, but written in honor of our best girl Jeongyeon's birthday. 
> 
> This is also the product of 2.5 hours of procrastinating on schoolwork. Hope you all enjoy!

“Hello?” Jeongyeon answered the phone, the tell-tale signs of having been awoken from a deep slumber evident in her groggy tone.

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you up,” the voice on the other line breathed out, and if Jeongyeon were more awake, she would be able to detect a hint of frantic nervousness in it.

But Jeongyeon didn’t need to be fully awake to recognize immediately who was on the other end of the call, didn’t need to even open her eyes and glance at her phone screen to know that it was—

“Nayeon, it’s okay. I wasn’t even passed out for that long,” Jeongyeon lied. “I fell asleep watching some drama on my laptop, so thank you, actually, for saving me from waking up to a completely dead computer.” Jeongyeon had no idea why she was still trying to make Nayeon feel better, even after all these years.

“Clearly, it wasn’t a very good show if it’s putting you straight to sleep,” Nayeon retorted.

“Or maybe I’m just old now and can’t stay up past 11 pm,” Jeongyeon half-joked at her own expense.

“And what does that make me?” Nayeon asked.

“You don’t really want me to answer that, do you?” Jeongyeon chuckled softly, turning in bed to face her window and draping the covers over her body.

“Not if you know what’s good for you, no,” Nayeon answered, and Jeongyeon, more awake now, could definitively hear the smile in her ex-girlfriend’s voice, could clearly picture her signature bunny teeth on full display.

“I’m keeping my mouth shut then,” Jeongyeon decided, the slightest of smiles forming on her lips.

She’d missed this. Their playful banter—Nayeon teasing her, and Jeongyeon knowing exactly how to counter to elicit a reaction from her. Their late-night conversations—the “what kind of house do you want to live in?” and the “how many children do you want?” questions being asked, answers given that made Jeongyeon’s heart burst at the seams as she thought of a future with Nayeon. The comfortable silence between them—the knowing what was on each other’s mind without the other having to say a word because they were best friends who knew each other better than they knew themselves.

“What did you do to celebrate today?” was Nayeon’s next question, but Jeongyeon could remember a time when Nayeon didn’t have to ask because she’d spent the entire day celebrating Jeongyeon’s birthday with her.

“Uhh… nothing exciting, really. Grabbed lunch with a friend and had a nice, home-cooked dinner with my family. The usual.”

“Honestly, that sounds like your perfect birthday,” Nayeon commented, and Jeongyeon wanted so badly to disagree, to tell her that it could never be the perfect birthday when Nayeon wasn’t there filming their friends and family singing to Jeongyeon as she blew out the candles on her cake.

“It was,” Jeongyeon lied for the second time that night. Lowering her voice, she added, “I wouldn’t change a thing.”

“I would,” Nayeon blurted out, apparently hearing what Jeongyeon _thought_ she had whispered. “I would change a lot of things.”

Jeongyeon inhaled sharply. This wasn’t a conversation she was prepared to have at—she glanced at her phone, the sudden brightness shocking her senses—11:42 at night. “Nayeon, we made our choices. We have to stand by them,” Jeongyeon stated as firmly as she could.

“I know,” Nayeon replied softly, and Jeongyeon swore she could hear the tiniest bit of disappointment in Nayeon’s voice, as if Nayeon had wanted Jeongyeon to say that she, too, would change how things played out between them. “I just wish I knew they were the right choices to make.”

“They’re what we thought was right for us at the time,” Jeongyeon explained, unsure why she was, again, trying to make Nayeon feel better about a decision they _had_ to make because of _Nayeon_. “You were offered this amazing opportunity to take up acting in L.A., and there was no way I was going to let you pass up your dream j—”

“You could’ve stopped me, Jeong,” Nayeon cut her off, and the use of her nickname for the first time in God-knows-how-many years made Jeongyeon’s heart clench. “You _should’ve_ stopped me.”

Jeongyeon could feel her lips trembling, her fingers gripping the bedsheets tightly, as if she were scared they would fly away and leave her, just as the woman on the other line had done.

“I was _not_ going to get in the way of you and your dreams, Nayeon,” Jeongyeon shot back, now fully sitting up in her bed, feeling like she had a better chance of fighting the tears threatening to spill from her eyes in an upright position. “I didn’t want to be the bad guy, to be the selfish one telling you to give up everything you’ve worked so hard for, all your goal—”

“My goals included you!” Nayeon shouted, her voice betraying her as it began to quiver, and Jeongyeon could tell she wasn’t the only one about to cry.

“And _my_ goals included marrying you! Buying a house with you, one with those high ceilings and big bay windows you were always raving about. Having a family with you—a little boy and a little girl with your nose and cheeks. Growing old with you, loving you until I can’t walk anymore without a cane and you get wrinkles and think you’re ugly, but I’d tell you that you’re still smoking hot—”

“Yoo Jeongyeon!” Nayeon let out a choked half-laugh, half-sob.

“I wanted all of those things with you, Nayeon. I really did.” Jeongyeon found herself nodding, though there was no way for Nayeon to see her. “But above all, I wanted you to be happy, and I knew that you wouldn’t be if you had stayed in Seoul. You would’ve spent the rest of your life wondering ‘what if?’ and I wouldn’t have been able to live with myself if I had let you do that.”

A silence fell over them, and Jeongyeon could do nothing but just lay in bed with her eyes closed, listening to the sound of Nayeon’s breathing—at least until Nayeon broke it.

“I’m sorry,” and Jeongyeon wasn’t sure what exactly her ex-girlfriend was apologizing for.

“For what?”

“For yelling at you on your birthday. What kind of jerk does that?” Nayeon chuckled, but Jeongyeon knew her apology was sincere.

“Apparently, you do,” Jeongyeon teased.

“Hey! I’ve already apologized,” Nayeon piped up, and Jeongyeon didn’t have to be looking at her to know that she was sporting her trademark pout, the one she’d used on Jeongyeon on a daily basis to get whatever she wanted.

“Alright, alright, apology accepted,” Jeongyeon rolled her eyes.

“And… uh, I’m sorry for everything else. I shouldn’t have blamed you for what happened,” Nayeon sighed. “You’re right. We both decided that the best thing for both of us was to break up. And maybe it’s so hard for me to stomach that decision now, even after all these years, because everything you told me you wanted, I wanted those things too, Jeongyeon. I wanted all of it with you.” She paused to take in a deep breath before continuing. “I guess I just wish we’d fought a little harder? That in another life, we found a way to make things work. That you and I had our happy ending.” She chuckled softly.

Jeongyeon mustered a small smile. “I like to think that somewhere out there, on a planet exactly like ours, two people exactly like you and me made totally different choices and that, somewhere, we’re still together. And that’s enough for me.”

“Me too.” And with Nayeon’s agreement, Jeongyeon could feel a sense of finality sweeping over them. Things with them weren’t perfectly wrapped up in a neat, little bow—Jeongyeon had never expected them to be—but in their own strange way, this conversation with Nayeon was what she needed to finally find peace.

“I actually have to run,” Nayeon cut in. “It’s the first day of filming for this new movie I’m in.”

“Ooooh, that’s exciting,” Jeongyeon beamed, genuinely happy for the other woman. “Break a leg then.”

Nayeon’s loud laugh rang clearly through the phone. “Thanks, Jeong, and happy birthday.”

“Thanks for calling. It was unexpectedly… nice.”

Nayeon snorted. “I’m taking that as a compliment.”

Jeongyeon grinned. “I wouldn’t want you taking it any other way.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you so much for reading! This was just a quick, little thing I threw together while putting off all the work I have to do. A very special thanks to my friend Kat for beta reading.
> 
> Feel free to leave a comment and let me know what you thought, or follow/message me at @jeongbaeyah on Twitter if you want :)


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